Attack On SPARTAN
by Dr. McWeazel
Summary: Chapter 3 is up, folks. Introduced an old friend of ours into the story. Not exactly the kindest person, but she'll be sure to add something of worth to the story. Anyway, thanks for reading. And do I have that TV Tropes recommendation yet? Seriously, though, thanks for spending your time reading my story. [Sorry for the erratic updates. No set schedule for that sort of thing.]
1. New Beginnings

Prologue

Nearly 850 years ago, Humanity brought itself to the brink of extinction. Still recovering, giant beasts, now known as Titans, appeared and started devouring what was left. The rich and powerful fled across the seas in search of shelter. When they arrived, they found 3 great walls, and settled inside of them. After a century of peace, humanity grew complacent, almost ignoring the threat that the Titans were entirely.

5 years ago, the Colossal and Armored Titans appeared, breaking down the gates of Wall Maria, the outermost wall. Humanity lost 10,000 in the time it took to flee to Wall Rose, and lost another 250,000 in what was a thinly veiled attempt to lessen the blow of the food shortage. Now, humanity is getting back on its feet, and are preparing for a counterattack and a real operation to take back Wall Maria. And here is where our story begins.

Chapter 1: The New Beginning

Trost City-District, 850 AD

Eren Jaeger, our hero-to-be, stood on top of Wall Rose, looking over the City-District of Trost. He was confident that humanity was about to beat the Titans back to Wall Maria, retaking the Zhinganshina City-District in the process. _Today, _He thought, _we begin our counterattack. Our attack on the Titans. This day shall be remembered in history as the day humanity struck back against our foe, and won back the lands and, later, the world that we had lost to them. We shall not be caged in any longer. We shall retake this world- Retake what is __**ours!**_ He looked to his left when he thought he heard shouting, seeing an average height girl with brownish-reddish hair running towards him and a few others that were currently stationed there. "Hey! Guess what I've got?" She shouted, trying to get everybody's attention. Some ignored her, but most were now intrigued. _What have you got?, _Eren wondered. "Alright, Sasha, what have you got?" Somebody behind him shouted. She ran over quickly and pulled something out of her jacket. "I just took some meat from the supply station over yonder," She answered. Somebody muttered something about how she could get into serious trouble for that. "Well then we'll just have to eat it when none of the officers are around, huh?" Sasha retorted, immediately proceeding to gaze at the meat with something Eren could have sworn resembled lust. It was disturbing, to say the least.

After a few minutes of some not-particularly-noteworthy dialogue, Eren returned to looking over Trost. He was beginning to get a little bored, when suddenly, a thunderous boom bellowed over the City-District, coming from directly behind him. It was a familiar sound, the same one he had heard 5 years ago when the Colossal Titan had destroyed the outermost southern gate. He wheeled around, eyes suddenly blazing with anger and saw what he thought he would: The Colossal Titan itself. A massive rush of steam suddenly blew over the wall, breaking Eren's concentration and many of the weapons that had recently been installed on Wall Rose. Most everybody who had been garrisoned there was suddenly thrown off, many being knocked unconscious in the process. Eren, concentration now restored and fury recently forgotten now reborn, proceeded to return to the top of the wall and engage the Colossal Titan in single combat, though not before it could smash its foot through Trost's gate, sending rubble flying in all directions and allowing innumerable Titans inside the walls once more. It swung at him, he dodged, he swung at it, it blasted steam at him, he blasted at its neck with his Maneuver Gear, swung his blades, and… It was gone. Vanished. Disappeared. Curiously, there were footprints left behind, but aside from those and the gate that looked like it had exploded inward there was no evidence that the Colossal Titan had ever even been there. Eren was absolutely furious, this development coming out of absolutely nowhere, but that train of thought was interrupted when he suddenly became very aware that he was falling and quickly latched back onto Wall Rose, directly above the now-shattered gate. Disappointed in himself for not being able to kill the Colossal Titan quickly enough, and infuriated that the damnable thing even showed its face a second time and remained alive besides, he pulled himself back over the wall and retreated with the others back to HQ.

A plan was quickly devised, and everybody's orders were issued. Before he left, Mikasa, his adoptive-sister who had been with him 5 years ago when Wall Maria fell, warned him to be careful. He said he would be, rather annoyed that she still thought he needed to be watched over. Eventually, he set out with his squad and got ready to face the Titans that were now invading Trost. He and his squad, made up of himself, Armin, a short blonde fellow that he had met long before the fall of Wall Maria, Thomas Wagner, a tall blonde fellow that he had only met recently, as though seemingly just to contrast with Armin, Mina Carolina, a young brunette that he met about the same time he met Thomas and was about Armin's height, and a few others who won't be named because I'm getting a little bored with that. They set out quickly enough, blasting through the town and avoiding combat until they could get where they were supposed to go. They passed by a particularly large boulder on the way and Eren cursed that humanity hadn't the tools or strength required to lift it and move it to reseal Trost. Another thunderous boom, similar to the one that signaled the Colossal or Armored Titan's appearance suddenly resounded through the air. Eren stopped and looked around, very much on edge after that. He didn't spot anything particularly odd, though everybody else had stopped as well. He was certain he hadn't hallucinated that noise, but he couldn't see any sound of the rather abnormal Titans that should've been there. "Hmm... Alright everybody, let's keep going. We can't afford to waste time!" He commanded, and charged onward.

Their approach to the area where they'd be protecting was not uneventful, though. A large Titan, 14 or 15 meters tall, was spotted. Everybody moved to take it out on the way there, but were mildly surprised when it looked right at them. And then leapt. _Dammit_, Eren thought, _An Aberrant. Those things are smarter than the average Titan. What do we **do?**_ However, his train of thought was again interrupted- this seemed to happen to him quite a bit today- as he saw the thing was about to pin Thomas between itself and a building. The creature leaped, Thomas screamed a shrill cry that Eren thought would be the last sound he would ever hear that man make, the Aberrant opened its disturbingly large maw, and... Subsequently had everybody above its shoulders blown to pieces? What? Everybody was shocked. Thomas couldn't do much but crash land and proceed to gawk at his good fortune. Eren took up a nearby position and proceeded to join Thomas in gawking at this development, dumbfounded and left nearly unable to speak. Suddenly, a very large craft absolutely loaded with what appeared to be very odd looking cannons flew past. It took him a few seconds to start thinking again after this, but the first thought didn't offer much clarity on the matter as _Wait, what?! _isn't particularly descriptive as far as deciphering just what in God's name was happening was concerned. "What the hell is going on here?!" He demanded. Mina shrugged, Thomas followed suit, and Armin had a confused look on his face not quite unlike Eren's own.

A turret on the top of this thing- Sky-Ships, Eren decided to call them- fired and blew another Titan- this one 4-Meter Class- to bits, while something that was firing at an insane pace quickly eviscerated yet another one- 5 meters tall- nearby. Eren looked around and saw four more such craft performing similarly. He looked down at the streets and saw what appeared to be a horseless carriage with yet another cannon mounted on the back barrel past, followed by yet more such things. A loud boom resounded through the air as the small cannon fired at another Titan, blinding it. 3 more such noises and white streaks, and the Titan fell, everything above its collarbone having been reduced to a bloody paste on the nearby buildings. He looked into the sky, dropped his swords, and started sputtering. There he saw a monument of a Sky-Ship, deploying yet more of these smaller ones, some of which were carrying the carriages, more carrying what looked to be large mechanical beasts with even larger cannons mounted on them, and yet others which were carrying passengers. Some of these passengers were practically giants, towering over the men and women around them at what appeared to be the size of a small Titan and occasionally issuing orders. Eren shook his head and recovered his senses, as well as his swords, and blasted over to one of these giants-amongst-men.

Unknown Location, 10:48 AM, September 27th, 2556 B.C.E.

Jason-148 stood on the roof of what looked to be a rather old house, examining the situation and attempting to discern just what in the hell was going on around him, and where he was. Given the architecture that was present around this area, though, he thought "When am I?" might be a good question to ask as well. Above him, scores of Pelican gunships soared, occasionally stopping to drop off Marines, ODSTs, Scorpions, Warthogs, and the occasional SPARTAN-IV super soldier. In a more conventional situation, he would've compared it to the D-Day beach landings of World War II, but this was clearly not a conventional situation. After all, Jason had never heard of a world under the UEG's jurisdiction that had walls somewhere between 45 and 55 meters in height around them. At least, not besides the Great Wall of China back on Earth, but these were clearly not that, and it was significantly shorter besides. Even weirder than that, though, were these great lumbering humanoids that Ensign Harold Jones of the UNSC _On My Mark _had spotted from the observation deck, one particularly huge one kicking in a gate, and later some of them gorging themselves on a bloody feast of humans. More frighteningly, they were _live _humans. _On My Mark's _Captain, one Henry Smith, was rather displeased with that idea and ordered a relief effort be organized as quickly as possible. That was less than an hour ago. Now that they were down here, Jason was rather impressed with the fight his fellow man had been putting up against these impossible beasts, though he was very displeased with how little progress was being made relative to every casualty the human side suffered. But that was what they were here for, at least until they could get back to where they were supposed to be, which was following the UNSC _Infinity_ around in her search for Forerunner tech. He got a feeling in his stomach that he would be here for awhile, though, and that he and the rest of the UNSC forces who were on board _On My Mark_ would be doing something very important while he was here.

He heard shouting coming from behind him and turned to see one of these soldiers shouting for a man fitting his description. Well, as descriptive as "Big guy in all-concealing green armor" is, anyway. "You there!" The soldier- he looked to be no more than 16, Jason guessed- shouted. "What in God's name is going on here?!" "I dunno, kid, why don't you tell me?" Jason retorted. The kid looked to be taken aback, but quickly regained his composure. "Alright, fine, but you tell me who you and all your buddies are and what you're doing here right after, alright?" Jason nodded and thought up a few questions. "For starters, just what the hell are these giant man-eating beasts? I mean, what are they called. I can tell what they are, I just need a designation to give to my commanding officer." "They're called Titans. Killed by taking out the base of their necks. Appeared out of nowhere some 8 and a half centuries ago," the young man explained. Jason nodded and relayed this information to Intelligence Officer James Knight. The information was passed around from there. "Okay, where'd these walls come from?" "No idea. Never bothered to ask that question to anybody." Jason sighed and passed this information along as well, for what little good it did, asking for a bit of heavy ordinance as he did so. A second later, he heard a rather loud _thud_ from behind him and smiled. "Excellent!" He exclaimed, with good reason. They'd deigned it alright to send him a Spartan Laser, of all things. The kid cleared his throat rather noisily and Jason turned back around to answer any questions he had about the situation.

Trost City-District, 850 AD

"Alright, so what exactly are you?" Eren asked. "Me? I'm a SPARTAN-II," the near-giant answered calmly. "Okay, what's with all these weird carriages with cannons and those Sky-Ships?" He asked. "I assume you mean the Warthogs when you refer to the 'weird carriages'. They're usually used for reconnaissance and light cavalry, but right now, they seem to be doing a pretty good job blasting these Titans off their feet and into a good position to be killed by you and your allies. The 'Sky-Ships' are called Pelicans. Some are gunships, some are dropships, and that-" the giant pointed up. "That is the UNSC _On My Mark_. Beautiful, ain't it?" Eren gazed upon the behemoth of a thing, a giant black monument, floating above the world, untouchable and seemingly invincible. The sky itself seemed to part before its power. He was speechless as he looked upon _On My Mark_. Eventually, though, he snapped himself out of it when he heard some orders coming from somewhere. He looked around and spotted a member of the Garrison giving orders to his squad, and blasted back over. "Be careful, kid! These things could still eat ya at any time, especially if there aren't any Marines around!" He heard the SPARTAN shout after him. He wheeled around and saluted the soldier before turning and landing next to his squad

"There he is!" Armin exclaimed, pointing at Eren. The Garrison member- a corporal, by the looks of him- briskly walked over to Eren, who promptly saluted. "Alright, soldier, at ease," He ordered. Eren relaxed and looked him in the eye. "Now, who is that you were just talking to, what did he just tell you, and what did you just tell him?" He asked. Eren looked up and answered the questions, calmly. "He said he was a SPARTAN-II or something. These things flying through the air are called Pelicans, and they're dropping off Marines from something called the UNSC. They're here to help, by the looks of 'em." "I see, but what did _you _tell _him_?" The corporal demanded. "Everything I know about the Titans and the current situation," he responded. "Alright then. I'll send word to command and ask them what to make of this development. In the meantime, I need you and your squad to cooperate with these 'Marines' and help get word out to the rest of the trainees and Garrison that are here to do the same, understood?" "Yes, sir!" Eren responded enthusiastically. The corporal blasted off, back towards the inner portion of Wall Maria, and Eren repeated the orders to his squad. "So we're to cooperate with these guys?" Thomas asked. "Unless it seems unreasonable or impossible to do so, yes. Now lets go!" Eren commanded, blasting off towards a group of Marines.

Unknown Location, 11:09 AM, September 27th, 2556

"So do we actually know where the hell we are?" Corporal Lester Jackson asked. "No, son, no we do not," Smith Allen, his sergeant answered. "But we do know what we're up against, and we do know how to kill them. So you know what we're gonna do?" "We're gonna route these things and teach them that humanity isn't anything to screw around with?" Another member of the squad-Private First Class Fred Carlson, if memory served- piped up. "Oh, _hell yes_ _we are_, marine!" Staff Sergeant Allen answered with all the enthusiasm Jackson had ever heard him muster. "See, Jackson, this kid gets it? Why don't you?" "Maybe because we're going up against giants? You know, giants that want to _eat us and that can run **really**** fast**_?" Jackson replied. "Well now you're just being a downer about things," another marine- Private Second Class John Jameson - said. "Excuse us!" an unfamiliar voice shouted. Jackson got off the crate he was sitting on and looked toward where the sound originated. "Some of those soldiers that were getting slaughtered before, Sarge. 2 O'clock." "Right. Lets put on our diplomatic faces, everybody. Don't wanna spook 'em," Sergeant Allen joked. The other two laughed, but Jackson kept himself focused. Maybe he was being cynical, like Jameson implied before, but he was convinced that he was simply being realistic. "Alright, kid, you're excused!" Carlson replied with all the humor he could muster. "Uh, right," the kid said as he landed, a little confused by the amount of friendliness in Carlson's reply. Lester checked the kid's face against the data they'd been gaining from this mission. "You match a face, but I see that Captain Jason-148 forgot to ask a name of you. So, please, introduce yourself," Jackson requested. "Eren Jaeger, pleasure to meet you," the kid answered, extending a hand. Jackson looked him over, took his hand, and gave it a firm shake. "Corporal Lester Jackson. The pleasure is all mine," He replied. The kid- Eren- stood rigid and slammed his fist over his heart. Lester blinked for a second and got a little nervous.

"Uh, at ease, son," Sergeant Allen ordered. "He ain't the one in this squad that you're gonna salute to, if you're gonna salute to anybody." Eren looked over to the sergeant with a puzzled look, but chose not to question it. "Now, what are you and your squad here for?" Jackson asked. "Well, we were ordered to cooperate with the UNSC in any way we could and relay in the fastest way we could to get the info I'd collected from your Captain Jason to everybody else in the Garrison and the 104th Trainee Corps. We felt that a good way to do that may be to ask you guys for help," Eren answered, looking around. "Though I see you haven't got any of those... what are they called again, the astonishingly quick cart things? Warthogs?" Eren paused and thought about it for a second. "Yeah, that's what they are, assuming you're talking about the reconnaissance vehicles we've got. We, however, have something even better on the way," Lester said, a bit of excitement in his tone. "What could you possibly have? Unless one of those Pelicans are on they're way, I don't think it'll he-" Fred cut him off. "We've got a Scorpion on the way. May not be as quick, but it is at least as effective as 5 Warthogs." Eren stared, apparently dumbstruck that something that didn't fly could be capable of that. "Wait a second, how could that be? Does it fly, too, or...?" Another one of the kids, short and blond and really oddly feminine looking, queried. "No, it doesn't fly, but the thing weighs a few tons, has superior armor, and could probably reduce one of these buildings around us to rubble," Carlson clarified, a rather large amount of the excitement in Lester's own voice showing up in his. The blonde kid processed this information before coming up with a reply. "How many people does it carry, and is it quick enough that it can outrun a Titan?" "6, 4 on the makeshift seats, one gunner, one driver. We aren't sure how quickly these 'Titans' can move, but, based on the information being relayed, it should be able to at least keep pace and stay ahead of one of those beasts, should we need it to," Carlson answered again. The efficiency of the answers he was giving made Lester wonder if he hadn't planned on being a techie rather than a proper marine, but he quickly pushed decided that wasn't it and came to the conclusion that he was just really good with numbers.

"Alright then. Which one of you is in charge?" The black haired kid- _Eren. Dammit I gotta keep these kids' names straight, _Lester thought- asked, his tone a little more relaxed and authoritative than before. "That'd be me, son," Allen answered. "I take it you got orders from your higher ups that you were to attempt cooperation with us until otherwise told?" Eren blinked for a second before stammering a reply. "Uh.. Y-yes, sir. How'd you know?" The sarge looked the kids over, carefully and with the calmness that he usually had. He suddenly seemed to practically excrete authority. "You have that look about you," he answered after about a minute. The short, blonde kid gulped, looking around a little nervously, which led to Lester snickering a bit. "E-excuse me, s-sir, but do you have anybody I can talk to about intelligence, o-or something of the like?" he stuttered, nervousness virtually dripping off his voice. "That'd be Private Johnson here," Lester answered, pointing at Johnson. "If you need to learn what we know, he's the man to ask. I hope you'll extend a similar courtesy." The blonde kid nodded and went to talk with Johnson, slightly outside of Lester's hearing range, but at the moment, that didn't seem to matter. What did matter was that he was getting a bit tired of waiting for the Scorpion to show up. It'd been awhile since he'd last driven one of those things, and the excitement was practically killing him. _Ah, it doesn't matter. I can wait. Long as I get to drive, everything'll be fine, _he thought. _I wonder how 99mm of tungsten would affect one of these so called 'Titans'._


	2. This Couldn't Be Going Better

Chapter 2: This Couldn't Be Going Better

Trost City-District, 850 A.D.

_This is going well, _Adrian thought. _These guys with weird cannons and flying ships and whatnot show up, everybody about shits themselves, and then they start slaughtering Titans. This is going very, very well. _He was right, though he had no way of actually knowing he was. Ever since those guys in the weird armor with the cannons and the really quick shooting guns showed up, the Titan advanced had not only slowed, but stopped completely. In fact, it almost looked like they were being pushed back simply because of the superior firepower that these new guys could deploy. If he weren't in mortal peril, Adrian would almost think it was fun. Well, that and his entire squad had been killed when one of the Aberrant Titans had jumped them before these new guys show up. He'd killed it while it was distracted, but he almost got killed himself before these guys, whoever the hell they were, saved his ass by virtually evaporating a Titan that was sneaking up on him while he was in shock. That'd been about an hour now, but Adrian still hadn't quite reoriented himself. _Severe trauma will do that to ya, _he thought. _But apparently, it won't get rid of your sarcasm._ He blinked. _Wait a second... where the hell am I?_ He looked around. He was quite obviously in a tent, but he couldn't remember getting there. He felt around with his hand, to see if he couldn't find anything else out that way. Whatever he was on, it was soft. He wiped his face with his other hand and got up. _Apparently, I've been lying down._ He looked around again and saw a few more beds around him. He swung his legs out of his own and got up. He felt his pockets to see if everything he had on him was still there. He nodded, felt content, and walked out of the te- No, wait, he wasn't content. It took him a second to realize that, while everything that had been _in_ his pockets was still there, the things that were usually in the way of getting to his pockets weren't. He carefully examined the room to see if he couldn't find his swords. Unsurprisingly, he couldn't. _The corporal's gonna kill me for this. Or he would, if he hadn't been killed already, _he thought. He walked out of the tent, a curious look on his face, and, once more, examined the area. He didn't see anyone, which was a bit peculiar, but there were a couple of tents, one to either side of the one he had just walked out of, and a third directly across the plaza. _Hmm... curious indeed, _he thought. He walked into the tent directly in front of him and he saw a dark skinned man, sitting at a desk, next to what looked like a pile of weapons; including, of course, Adrian's swords. _Okay, so I won't get in trouble today, _he thought.

"Something you want?" the man at the desk asked, barely looking up from his work. Adrian froze. He wasn't good at talking to unfamiliar people, let alone talking to unfamiliar people who appeared to have confiscated his weapons after he either passed out or went into the really screwed up "I can't remember what just happened" part of shock. "I, uh... hi," He stammered. "Those swords there, they uh..." He cleared his throat. "They belong to me," He finished. "Oh. You're that kid they brought in about 3 hours ago," the man said, getting up from his desk. _3 hours? But it only felt like one has passed. Granted, I may have been unconscious for most of that, but still, _Adrian thought. "I just need you to sign a few forms saying that you're conscious, good-to-go, and that these are, in fact, yours," the man continued, grabbing a few papers out from a cabinet that Adrian hadn't seen when he walked in. "Uh... y-yes, sir." "Okay then. Here you are. I'm Corporal Fitzgerald, in charge of the med camp we set up here. You are...?" He inquired, offering his hand. "I-I'm Adrian. Adrian Carpen. Nice to meet you," he said, taking the man's hand and shaking it. "Please, the pleasure is all mine," Corporal Fitzgerald coolly replied, handing Adrian the forms. The man motioned towards a seat, and Adrian pulled it up to the desk and started reading.

"So, uh, how did I get here?" Adrian asked. "8th Squad, led by one Staff Sergeant Dean Anderson, killed some big humanoid that looked like it was out to eat you. When they got to ya, you were just hanging off some building by those wires in that neat set of whatever it is, staring blankly off into space. They figured you were in shock, so they took you down here. Not sure what happened to them after that, but one of the medics here took care of ya. That was about two hours ago," Fitzgerald answered. "Okay," Adrian said, still signing some forms. "Who are you guys?" he asked without looking up. "We're the crew of the UNSC Cruiser _On My Mark_, which would be that monolithic thing that's currently floating in the sky above the city. If you see any really tall guys in green armor, those are one of the few surviving SPARTAN-IIs. If you see any kinda tall guys in similar armor, those are the newer SPARTAN-IVs. The rest of us are just techs, medics, marines, and a few of the ODSTs that opted to stay out of the power armor," Fitzgerald explained, a rather informative tone in his voice. "Any other questions?" "Uh... no, sir," Adrian replied. "Alright. So, who are you guys?" the man asked. "Uh... well, most of us are Garrison troops, stationed within these walls to keep watch over the civilian populous and kill any Titans that might get in. Those of us that aren't are still Trainees. Graduation day was supposed to be tomorrow, but I don't think most of us will be in attendance," Adrian answered. "Any other branches of this militia I should know about?" Fitzgerald queried. "There's the Survey Corps. They're usually the ones that are actually good at killing Titans, but they still have a massive casualty rate. The lowest they've gotten in recent years was 15%, and the average is still 30%." "I see. Anyone else?" he pried. "There's the Military Police in the innermost walls. They're supposed to be the best of the best, but I think they get a little lax without any Titans around to actually fight," Adrian explained, the nervousness from before seeping away from his voice. "Understood. Ya done with the forms?" Fitzgerald asked. "Yes, sir. Here you are," Adrian said, handing the signed forms back, in exchange for his weapons. "Alright. This'll be vital information. Those of us that have stayed in _On My Mark_ will brief the rest of the troops on this. Thanks," Fitzgerald said. "It's no problem. I'll be sure and inform the Captains who you guys are," Adrian stated as he put on the 3D-Maneuver Gear. "Have a nice day," He said, walking out of the tent. "Good luck slaying those Titans, kid. I think you might need it. And if you run into any more UNSC squads, tell 'em to report in. I haven't heard from 47th since they reported in 4 hours ago," Fitzgerald said, waving him out. Adrian nodded and blasted off towards the Trost HQ.

And smack into Wall Rose. _Ouch. Oughta look where I'm going, _Adrian thought.

Unknown Location, 11:53 AM, September 27th, 2556

Lester looked up as one of those soldiers blasted far ahead and above him, towards what the short kid- Armin- had identified as the "Trost Garrison Headquarters" or something of the like. He smiled and looked back at the screen in front of him, a rather nice view provided by a camera feed. The camera on the other end was at the end of the barrel of the M808B "Scorpion". He glanced around at another couple of screens, one showing a view of what was behind the behemoth, and one that was showing data feeds including the amount of ammunition left in the stores. Behind the Scorpion was another vehicle, this one crewed by but one man, that towered over the people below. One of the few HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX Armor Defense Systems, or "Mantises", that _On My Mark_ had access to. That one in particular was being piloted by one of the guys from 23rd Squad. The rest were onboard the Scorpion or in one of the Warthogs. Aside from that, the bunch of kids from before were surrounding them to either side, ready to help defend the convoy if a few Titans showed up. Lester had a feeling that they were more than ready to do the task Sergeant Allen had assigned them, but they were more than ready for such a thing besides. The tank's 90mm cannon- Lester had remembered incorrectly- could, at the very least, turn one of those thing's legs into a rather disgusting, bloody substance most closely resembling red paste on a clean hit. Placed better, like at the base of the neck, it could just take out most of the torso and anything above the collarbone. The M274T Machine Gun Turret could take care of the smaller ones on it's own, but it would likely see more use as a way of crippling the things. The Mantis' M655 Heavy Machine Gun could certainly take at least a few of the things out before overheating due to continuous fire, and likely take out dozens or even hundreds before running out of ammunition, while the M5920 Missile Launcher would serve a purpose similar to the machine gun turret on the Scorpion. That, in addition to whatever armament the 3 Warthogs had, would be more than enough to keep themselves safe, so long as none of those kids got in the line of fire.

"One 'Thomas Wagner' is reporting a a group of 3-5 Titans between 6 and 9 meters in height between us and the next checkpoint. Recommendations, sir?" one of the guys from 23rd relayed over the radio. "Copy that. Continue course, but do not engage unless they begin to approach or if they're already attacking another group of people," Sergeant Allen ordered coolly. The sarge had gone from humorous to deadly serious after having seen a couple of Titans rip a guy in half and eat the remains. The whole group had after that. Those two in particular were quickly reduced to bloody chunks of steaming flesh afterwards, but the image of that was something that would remain burned into Lester's mind- and likely that of everyone else- for the rest of his days. These things, while often funny looking, were terrifying, and most certainly needed to be killed before they could kill us, he had decided, though he wasn't sure if it was out of hatred for such actions being done with such abandon, an altruistic sense of justice and need to protect the weak, or fear of similar happening to himself. Most likely it was a combination of the three. Regardless, though, things couldn't have improved any more, it seemed. The combined forces of the UNSC and the Garrison were pushing the Titans back towards outermost gate, and 3 Pelicans had been deployed to attack cables to a nearby boulder that could, if all went off without a hitch, seal the Gate and prevent more Titans from getting in, at least for the time being. "Corporal Jackson, see anything on the screens? Sounds like an explosive just went off behind us," Sergeant Allen demanded. Lester checked the screens, but all he saw was a bit of what looked to be lightning dissipating. "No, sir. Seems something was just hit with a bit of dry lightning. Nothing serious, as far as I know," He answered. "Hmm... Alright, keep your guard up, everybody. Be on the lookout for anything particularly unusual," Allen ordered. A few "Yes sir!"s and the situation returned to what was, for now, normal.

Trost City-District, 850 AD

Eren couldn't shake the feeling that something had very definitely just gone wrong. The sound that signaled the arrival of the Armored Titan had just been heard, but there was no sign of any such thing. There was an oddly skinless Titan about 40 meters behind them, but that wasn't really worth mentioning to anybody. Other than the apparent lack of skin, it appeared to be doing what Titans usually did; feasting upon or otherwise killing humans who were just trying to survive in this unforgiving world. He looked up and didn't see any more Sky-Ships that could have entered the fray, so clearly, something was very definitely wrong. _Maybe I'm just being paranoid, _He thought._ I need to get my mind back on the mission at hand. _He looked back towards the HQ in time to see 4 Titans, between 6 and 9 meters tall, between them and the HQ. These were the same Titans that Thomas had pointed out before, and clearly, they were going to be an issue. He pulled the black box, the thing these "Marines" had dubbed a "radio", out of his pocket and spoke into it. "We have 4 Titans between 6 and 9 meter class between us and the HQ. They don't look to be distracted by anything and are, for the moment, remaining in that position. We need to take them out." A few seconds later and the radio buzzed. "Yes, Private Wagner reported the same Titans. We see them, but the sarge said that we aren't to engage them unless engaged first," one Corporal Jackson explained. "They're going to engage us if we continue along this path. I recommend either an alternate route or we take them out before they can take us down," Armin stated. "Sarge? What do you think?" the Corporal asked. "The kid's probably right. We need to take either a longer path or take these things out before they can get to us. Jaeger, see any other paths that'll still get us to the HQ on schedule?" their sergeant, one Smith Allen, requested. "No sir, I do not. The only other paths I can see that meet that condition are infested with more Titans than this one. Engagement is a certainty if we are to reinforce the troops already there before we're late," Eren stated. "Alright then. Jameson, how long 'til the Titans are in sight of the Mantis' and Scorpion's guns?" The Sergeant asked to one of his own. "T-minus 1 minute, 27 seconds, sir," the one called Jameson relayed. This was going to be intense, Eren could feel it. "Alright. Eren, I need your squad to scout ahead with the 'Hogs and see if you can't attract their attention for long enough to keep them away from the more powerful ordnance. Can you do that?" Allen asked, a bit of compassion in his voice. "Yes, Sergeant. My squad and I are trained for such things," he replied bluntly. "Understood. Corporal Harrison, you get all that?" The sergeant inquired without a moments pause. "Yes sir," Harrison answered. "23rd squad, prepare to move up on the 104th Trainees." _You have no idea, Corporal, _Eren thought.

In under a minute, Eren's squad was swinging around, desperately avoiding the snatching fists of 3 of the 4 Titans while the Warthogs below them eviscerated the neck of the 4th. He wondered briefly if they would even need the "Mantis" and the "Scorpion" to kill these things. He took a quick look around and saw Mina take out the 9 meter class' left leg at the Achilles' Tendon, briefly causing the abomination to collapse into a hail of fire from one of the Warthogs, which took out it's right eye and pumped it's biceps full of lead before turning to avoid a swooping hand from one of the 2 6 meter classes. Suddenly, a resounding explosive sound cracked through the air, echoing off of some of the nearby stone structures. One of the shots from the Scorpion had impacted in the other 6 meter class' stomach, causing the contents to empty out all over the street. Amongst it were two still living people: One of the Garrison's soldiers, and one of the UNSC's troops. The rest were just what looked to be the remains of the two's respective squads, half boiled into nearly unrecognizable mush. Eren saw Thomas swoop down and grab the Garrison soldier, so he went after the UNSC trooper. "Oh, oh thank God," she stuttered- _Wait, that's a chick? That armor really does a good job of concealing gender, _Eren thought.- as she clamored to her feet. Eren picked her up and deposited her on the Scorpion's tread guard, then hurried back into the action. The Mantis fired a stream of death from the machine gun mounted on its right arm, while the left unleashed a river of explosive devastation, both on the same Titan- the 9 Meter Class. The great beast stumbled back at the impact of the explosives, and lost a leg to the steady fire of the machine gun, collapsing to the ground. Eren swooped in and lopped out the back of the Titan's neck. He could've sworn he heard the Mantis' pilot call him a "kill stealer" or something of the like, but that couldn't have been right. The last 6 meter still stood, but barely. Two of the 3 Warthogs had been firing on it while the 3rd was focused on killing the other 6 meter, from whom the two soldiers had been rescued. "Armin, Mina, take out the Titan's legs. Thomas, you and I are on the thing's neck. We're taking this thing down," Eren yelled over the hail of death coming from the two Warthogs. Armin nodded and blasted to take out the Titan's right tendon, while Mina took the left. The Warthogs stopped firing, with what looked to be steam emitting from the barrels of the machine guns. "Alright, Thomas, now's our chance!" Eren shouted, blasting towards the back of the monster's neck. The reason Eren was having Thomas go after it, too, was because two strikes from two pairs of ultra-steel swords on the nape of the neck of one Titan would almost guarantee a kill. He was right. Thomas had just missed getting a cut deep enough to slay the beast, and Eren rocketed in, swiftly ending the abomination's life. "Nice work, everybody," He heard Sergeant Allen say over the radio. He simply looked in the man's direction and nodded. "Everybody rest for a moment. We'll mobilize for the HQ after that," Allen ordered. Eren saw Mina and Thomas smile and sit down in front of a wall together. Armin just blasted over to the Mantis to see if Jameson- that Corporal Jackson guy had gotten his name wrong earlier when he introduced him to Eren's squad, but he wasn't sure if that was intentional or not- and started asking various questions about what sort of data could be gathered from the situation that just took place. Meanwhile, Eren himself just walked over to the two soldiers who had been rescued from the Titan's stomach.

Unknown Location, 12:05 PM, September 27th, 2556  


Lester walked over to the pair that had been freed from the stomach of one of the 6 meter Titans. He saw the kid, Eren, walking over too and decided now would be a good time to get to know the kid better, or at least examine his behavior. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you," the woman muttered. "If you guys hadn't shown up, we would've been as dead as the rest of our squads," the other soldier, this one most definitely male, explained. "It was nothing. To be honest, I didn't even know anybody was in that thing's stomach," Lester admitted a bit nervously. "Well, nevertheless, we owe you our thanks," the man said. "Okay, how about you introduce yourselves for thanks, and the names of the squad members and squads to whom you were attached," Eren ordered bluntly. "Oh, uh, right," the woman said. "I'm Private 1st Class Theresa Maximilian, 27th Squad. This is Private Carter Jones." "Sir," Jones said tartly, nodding as he did so. "I honestly couldn't tell you the names of my squad members. I tried to forget they were people after I started using them as a platform to stand on and not boil," Theresa said, her voice full of shame and her eyes pointed at the ground. "It's alright, as long as they were already dead," Lester said as comfortingly as he could, putting a hand on her shoulder and wiping it on the building next to them when he realized she was still coated in Titan juice. "Right, well, I think we'd better get you to back to the medical camp. I'll see if I can't requisition a pickup at the HQ for you two to be put at camp on the other side of the wall, okay?" Lester said. Jones just nodded, but Theresa was a bit more thankful. "Thank you so much for you effort. I appreciate it. I'm sure Carter here does, too, but he's a bit on the shy side," she jested. Jones just scowled at her in response, which led her to giggle a bit. "Alright, everybody ready to go? We still got a schedule to keep here!" Lester heard Allen shout. He rushed back to the Scorpion and hopped into the driver's seat.


	3. But They Can Most Certainly Get Worse

Chapter 3: But They Can Most Certainly Get Worse

Trost City-District, 850 A.D.

They'd reached the HQ without too much trouble. Their sole encounter with a group of 4 Titans had gone off seemingly without a hitch, and they had even managed to rescue two people from a rather horrific death by being boiled alive. The fortification of the HQ had begun again, this time with help from the UNSC. On top of the structure were now 4 automated sentry turrets, which could be adapted to use any ammunition on hand, though it would be difficult to do and such jury-rigging would be harder yet to undo and would likely damage the turrets if fire was continued for any amount of time longer than 20 seconds. Least, that's what the other squad's technician said. Around the walls, there were now slits through which a Marine or a Garrison soldier or soldier-to-be could fire a rifle to blind any Titans that were stupid enough to dare come by. The outside grounds were also patrolled by 2 Mantises, a Scorpion, and at least 6 Warthogs, as well as those already stationed at the HQ by Garrison orders. However, it looked like things were getting slightly worse. The skinless Titan that Eren had spotted before was on the move, and it was doing something that utterly horrified him; It was killing people, but not eating them. Not simply crushing them while chasing other humans. No, it was killing them and it was going about it quite intelligently. If Eren didn't know better, he'd call the monstrosity a sadist. Also curious was that it almost looked to be feminine in appearance. The Garrison couldn't seem to get a grip on it, and that really bothered Eren, but as long as it didn't come too close to the HQ, they should've been fine. For a time, they were. The occasional Titan would wander over, and the combination of the 104th's training and the 23rd and 45th UNSC squads firepower would slay them rather quickly. Then something rather frightening happened.

The feminine Titan stared right at the HQ as though analyzing the defenses around it. Eren could see its eyes subtly moving, following the movement of the sentries and the patrols before it stared right at him. Eren felt his eyes widen and himself freeze right there. He didn't know what it was thinking, but that it was at all was enough to frighten him into pseudo-paralysis. He started shaking and took a step backwards. "Jaeger, you seeing something?" He heard Sergeant Allen ask over the radio. All he could do was whimper. The monster's cold eyes seemed to be staring right into his soul. "I-I spotted a skinless Titan... examining the defenses around the HQ, I think," Eren finally managed to speak into the radio. "Repeat? Sounded like you said it was examining the HQ's defenses," Sergeant Allen demanded. "That's affirmative, sir. Its looking right at Eren. Seems to be rather distracted by him," he heard Thomas say over the radio. "Hold position, warn us if it starts moving towards HQ, got it?" Sergeant Allen ordered, a touch of what was curiosity, surprise, or fear poisoning his voice. "Yes sir. Thomas Wagner, over and out," Eren's squadmate said, looking at the Titan. It simply continued to stare at Eren, either with wonder or what Eren swore was bloodlust. Thomas blasted over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, but that did little to calm him. "Stop shaking, Eren. Clear your head. We've got work to do, and it won't be especially easy work besides, but if you keep shaking like this and letting this thing get under your skin, it'll be almost impossible," he said calmly. "Besides, there's no way it could get to you before something the UNSC has would get it. You've seen what their stuff has done to all the other Titans. What could possibly be so bad about this one?" He asked, trying his best to reassure Eren and get him to return to a state of relative stillness. Eren took a deep breath, looked at Thomas, and nodded. He'd got his head back together, for however long. Hopefully that'd be enough that if the thing charged, he wouldn't be killed.

Unknown Location, referred to by locals as "Trost", 2:34 PM, September 27th, 2556

It was nice for Lester to finally have a name for this place, this city. Things were still confusing, but having a name for the place they were currently in helped to make everything a bit easier to coordinate, and thus made things easier on himself and Jameson. However, that did little to comfort him when he found out that one of those Titans had been staring right at the HQ as though thinking about how to get by the defenses. He'd asked the techies up on _On My Mark_ if they could spare any ordnance or something in the event that the thing charged. By Eren's account, he'd seen the thing stare at the HQ no more than 12 minutes ago, and before that he'd seen it slaughtering the Garrison forces that were sent at it. That they hadn't requested UNSC support for such a thing had confused Lester, but that wasn't really his decision. _Weird that they'd simply opt to get slaughtered instead, though,_ He thought. He looked at Eren. He'd been staring at the Titan for almost 10 minutes now, waiting for the thing to make its next move. "Hey, Jackson," He heard somebody buzz over the radio. "Uh, yeah? Who is this?" He asked monotonously. He was still a little zoned out, but he was slowly getting his mind back onto what was going on around him. "Its Thomas Wagner. You see anything odd?" the kid inquired. "Odd? Odd how?" Lester asked back, shifting his gaze over to his screens. He'd turned on a couple of the other cameras on the outside of the Scorpion and linked 5th screen to a surveillance probe that the crew of _On My Mark _had sent out about 20 minutes ago. "Odd like a lack of Titans. I'm not seeing any heading towards the HQ, or any of the other areas we've been holding. Haven't gotten any reports of Titans slipping past our defenses due to laziness on the part of a squad or two, either," Thomas answered. Lester scanned the area with the probe and swapped the screen over to another one, and then a third before cycling back to the first. "I'm not seeing any either... Wait a minute," He said quietly, switching again to the second probe. The Titan, the skinless one that Eren was glaring at, was lying back against a house, and behind that, Lester could see a few Titans congregating. More were in the area, but they were closer to the gate. Nevertheless, they were motioning towards the skinless one as though it was calling upon them. "I'm seeing a few Titans gathering behind the skinless one, and there are more moving toward it. No idea why, though," Lester observed, curiosity squirming its way into his words. He took the controls back up and drove the Scorpion over towards a nearby intersection, so he could observe this skinless monstrosity better. When he worked his way over to the corner, he saw the Titan look at his Scorpion and stand. He braced himself. And the worst thing he could've imagined happened.

It took up a stance like it was getting ready to sprint. "Oh shit," he cursed, jerking the controls back and trying to get the thing into full reverse. "Sarge! We've got movement! That Titan that Jaeger spotted looks like it's getting ready to charge," he shouted into the radio, utter panic dominating every word that came out of his mouth. "Calm down, Corporal. Eren, Thomas, confirm Jackson's info," Allen ordered over the radio. "Uh, he's wrong," Eren said. "It's already charging!" Lester kept pulling the thing backwards and aimed the primary turret up. "23rd, get that Mantis over here! We've got problems!" He yelled into the radio. Just then, the Titan slid around the corner and leaped at the tank. Lester did the only thing he thought he could do at that point; He took a shot. The Titan exploded backwards and slammed into a nearby residential building, collapsing the structure in the process. Lester got ready to fire again, just in case. _There is no way that thing could get back up from that,_ he thought. To his surprise, and to the surprise of everybody else that could see it, the behemoth stood from the rubble, its abdomen having obviously been injured, but not nearly what he thought would've- and what normally should've- happened. "23rd, where the hell is that Mantis?!" Lester demanded. "We're a bit tied up on the other side of the building, Corporal! Titans seem to be appearing from all sides. Autosentries are tied up covering the other flanks!" he heard a voice explain. _Shitshitshitshitshitshit, _ Lester thought, terror controlling his every though, his every move. It was honestly the most coherent thing that passed through his mind at that moment as a result. He fired off another shot at the thing and, before the shot impacted, he could've sworn he saw the Titan's abdomen take on a silvery color. "What the hell is that?!" He shouted at nobody in particular. "I don't know. Want me to try and get a closer look... oh crap," He heard Thomas say. He watched as the thing returned to a standing position once more and proceeded to leap at the child and grab him off the roof. Thomas retaliated as best he could and stabbed it in the fingers, but that accomplished little. The monstrous creature merely tightened its gripped on him and put his head between the index finger and thumb on the other hand. He swore he saw a look of utter terror on the child's face. The behemoth squeezed, and his head popped like a grape. "THOMAS!" He heard Jaeger shout, and then he watched as the other child blasted at the creature. He swung at its shoulder, but the blades just shattered on impact against the metallic material that suddenly coated the sadistic thing's shoulder. He saw a similar look of terror to Thomas' when the Titan swung its now empty right hand at Eren. Lester took another shot at the thing, going for the arm or hand or something to get it to stop. He hit his mark and blew the thing's hand apart. "Get out of there, Jaeger!" he heard someone shout over the radio. He looked around and saw that a SPARTAN-II had joined the fray and leaped towards the Titan. "SPARTAN, identify now!" Sergeant Allen demand over the comm channel. "Jason-148. Heard some commotion was going on over here, got here as quick as I could. What's happening?" The SPARTAN demanded. "Uh, sorry sir. This thing seems to be far more intelligent than the average Titan. Seems to be able to harden its skin in places too prevent excessive damage, too. Recommendations?" Allen requested, his voice smaller than before but somehow still authoritative. "Distract it in any way you can so that the heavy weapons can do some real damage. There are more Titans on the way here, and they seem to be following it. If we can drive it back out of the gate, we should be able to limit the damage it causes. Understood?" "Yessir!" He heard the other blonde kid, Armin, say over the radio. "Everybody else get that?" He saw a few confirmation lights pop up on the screen and heard a few confirmations over the comms from the trainees. "Alright. Let's get rolling, then. Trainees, distract it, but don't throw your life away in the process," Jason-148 said.

Trost City-District, 850 AD

This was bad. Before, they'd been defending the HQ with no problems. Just the occasional Titan would come around and promptly get slaughtered. But now? Now this... this _thing_ had showed up, and they were fighting for their very lives. On the other side of the building, their fellow soldiers were stuck fighting a seemingly endless wave of Titans, so they couldn't help, and all the sentries were tied up fighting other Titans while this monstrosity was doing a fantastic job of screwing everyone over while staying just outside of their range. But Eren couldn't focus on that. He needed to focus on driving this thing back. Sadly, he was much more focused on avenging Thomas, his anger and need for vengeance overwhelming anything he could think of that generally resembled reasonable thought. He screamed and blasted at the thing's neck with his Maneuver Gear's hooks, latching on and leaping forward to kill the monstrosity, utterly unaware that he was screaming curses and trying to damn the thing to an eternity of torture in the afterlife all the again, though, he swung and his blades broke, though this time he saw that it was against this monster's skin, which had somehow become much more like steel or a hard crystal substance. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" He screamed, looking up in time to see a hand descending upon him. He yanked the hooks out of the thing's neck and jumped back in time to avoid being killed as Thomas had. A small explosion resounded and blasted the Titan's knee, bending it to a horribly painful looking angle. The monster yet stood, however, and Eren saw an opportunity in a moment of miraculous clarity. _If I can just gash the back of this thing's knee, it should drop,_ he thought. Another explosion and the monster had been pushed back, having blocked the explosion with now armored forearms. This was Eren's opportunity, as if he blasted at the ground just right, he could cut open the thing's leg and force it onto its other knee. He proceeded to get the first bit right, but before he could continue, he glanced at the Titan's face and froze again, hitting the ground with all the force he had mustered at the point. It glared at him, with cold, blue eyes, staring almost into Eren's very soul. He shook fearfully and slowly backed away on all fours, fear suddenly overriding anger. He couldn't think what to do to get away and just stared back. He could feel himself slowly getting closer to a wall and what would most assuredly be his end.

As though on some sort of cue, the man in the green armor leaped onto the monstrosity's neck and punched, pulling out yet more of the steely material. The Titan reared back and swiped at the giant-amongst-men with it's left hand, and then again with its right, missing both times due to what Eren swore was an inhuman level of agility, especially for one in such heavy looking armor. The man jumped back before it could actually grab him, landing next to Eren and pulling him to his feet. "I see what you're trying to do. Go for the back of the leg, I'll try and keep it distracted. Go!" Jason shouted. Eren couldn't think of anything to say, instead just nodding and blasting back towards where he was and swiping at the back of the monster's leg as he went. With a rather sickening "shlick" sort of noise, the blades almost slid through the monster's flesh, eviscerating any tendons that were still allowing control over the knee. The monster looked around, its eyes looking to be filled with something resembling fear. _Is it afraid? _Eren thought, but before he could continue he saw a black dot descend from the sky and a hail of death descend once more from that. _A Pelican! If that doesn't drive it back, nothing will,_ Eren observed. Fortunately, he was right. The Titan somehow stood, turned, and ran despite its injuries, glancing at Eren as it ran by. This time he was sure of it. It was afraid, and it had every right to be. "This is Claymore-164, Warrant Officer James Harley. Command saw that you were in need of a bit of cavalry, so they sent me," he heard the pilot of the great machine explain over the radio. "Did you have a nice rest, waiting for command to tell you to go at the most dramatic moment, James?" Sergeant Allen joked over the radio, the sight of the Pelican obviously having lightened his mood a bit. "Good to hear you're still alive, Smithy," Claymore replied. "We have the situation locked down, except for these other Titans that followed that thing," Allen informed the pilot. Eren looked over to see what he was talking about and saw he was right. There were 6 Titans that he saw, all around 14 meters in height, apparently having followed the other Titan here. At the moment, however, they were distracted by the monster's sudden retreat.

The Pelican fired on the Titans that were threatening to overwhelm the Mantis' position while Eren and his team kept the Titans on there side from getting any closer than they were. The first went down relatively easily, Armin cutting through the Titan's neck like a hot knife through butter. The next two went down to a volley of unending death, a combination of fire from the Scorpion's main turret, it's secondary, and two Warthogs firing without relent, only stopping when the guns overheated. The fourth was a bit more clever, dodging away from Eren's first swipe, but backing itself into a position where Armin sliced its Achilles Tendon on its right leg. Eren got it from there. The 5th went down to a second volley from the Warthogs and Scorpion, while the 6th seemed oddly distracted with the skinless monstrosity that had killed Thomas, running after it for whatever reason. Eren simply sat on a nearby building and watched them flee off towards the gate. "Everybody alright?" Allen inquired over the comms. "No, sir, we've got a casualty. One 'Thomas Wagner' from the 104th Trainees," Eren heard Corporal Jackson explain. Eren got up and looked down at the ground below, where Thomas' remains lay still. Fortunately, the monstrosity had left Thomas be after it had killed him, but that did little to slake Eren's newfound thirst for revenge. _I know I already said I'd kill the Titans, _He thought. _But I'm gonna make sure that you die and especially painful death, one that will make you fear humanity, and one that leaves me as the last thing you ever see!_ He could feel his blood boil at the mere thought of the monster, an frightening, skinless parody of a human woman upon closer inspection. "The Female Titan," Eren muttered under his breath, dropping down next to Thomas' corpse. "I promise," he said out loud, laying a hand on the remains as though to comfort the soul that once resided within. "I promise, I'll make that thing pay for what it did to you. I'm going to make sure it doesn't do anything like that to anybody else. By God and by the three Walls, I swear I will end it before it can do this to anybody else!" He swore, his voice's volume climbing with every word.

Location Identified. Referred to as "Trost" from this point forward. 3:05 PM, September 27, 2556

"That kid is fucking bonkers," Lester muttered as he climbed out of the tank. One 'Mina Carolina' had relayed that the Titans seemed to be leaving the HQ be for the moment, so Lester decided to take the time between this attack and the next to get some fresh air. The Scorpion had heated up a good bit during that monstrosity's offensive, but how much of that was just himself panicking and how much of that was just the primary turret hurrying to reload, he honestly couldn't tell. What he did know was that a kid had died long before he should've, and that some _thing_ that resembled a Titan had come in and just about wrecked everyone's shit. Were it not for the timely arrival of the SPARTAN-II, everybody might have panicked, and that thing might have taken out everybody defended the HQ. Lester knew he would've freaked the hell out, but that was about that. He sniffed the air around him and noted it smelled mostly of his sweat, but there was the faint odor of copper as well. Lester looked at the dead kid- Thomas was his name- and sighed. Whether that was relief or grief was yet another thing he couldn't determine. Lester shook his head and pressed his hands against his face. _Calm down, man. At least it wasn't you,_ he thought. But how long before it was? _Best to leave that up to_ _luck. _He turned and looked up at _On My Mark_, wondering if they knew what had just occurred.

He looked over at Eren and wondered if the kid wasn't wrong to do what he was doing. _Might just be his way of dealing with grief. Be a little weird to swear revenge against a mouse for eating all your cheese, though. _He shook his head. Now wasn't the time for jokes, now was the time to focus on what he was supposed to be doing. He hopped back into the driver's seat and got the Scorpion rolling again. _Hope things start going as well as they did before. And when are the techies gonna send some people down to seal that damn hole__? _He wondered, a mildly confused expression appearing on his face where nobody could see it. He sighed again, this time most certainly a result of the waste of human life that he was sure this was going to turn into. "I hate this place already," he muttered.


End file.
